One day after the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he had decided not to play the national anthem before the team’s home games, the NBA says The Star-Spangled Banner must still be honoured. “With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy,” the league said in a statement on Wednesday. But we also loudly hear the voices of those who feel that the anthem does not represent them. On Tuesday, Cuban said he had made the decision not to play the national anthem after a discussion with NBA commissioner Adam Silver. In July he tweeted that: “The National Anthem Police in this country are out of control.”The pregame national anthem is a staple of American sports at both the professional and collegiate level, but is far less commonplace at pro sporting events in other countries.

Source: The Guardian February 10, 2021 13:20 UTC